NO CLASSES FOR DETROIT STUDENTS
DETROIT — Detroit Public Schools students were denied instruction
for a second week as more than 90 percent of the district's
teachers disobeyed a judge's order to return to work, according
to The Detroit News.

Fewer than 600 teachers out of about 7,000 returned to work Sept.
11, as ordered by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Susan D. Borman, The News reported. Detroit teachers have refused to work
since Aug. 28, after they rejected a contract offer from the
district that sought a 5.55 percent pay cut and higher health
insurance co-pays as part of $89 million in concessions,
according to The News. It is illegal under Michigan law for
public employees to strike.

DPS is closed indefinitely, and the district will ask Borman to
find striking teachers in contempt of court, The News reported.

Striking teachers potentially face fines both for violating state
law, as well as Borman's order, according to The News. DPS and
the Detroit Federation of Teachers heard a presentation on fact
finding from Ruthanne Okun, director of the Michigan Employment
Relations Commission, before ending negotiations Monday
afternoon.

EMU PROFESSORS STOP STRIKE FOR A DAY
YPSILANTI, Mich. — Faculty at Eastern Michigan University agreed
to suspend their strike for one day and teach classes Sept. 12,
according to The Ann Arbor News.

Professors at EMU have been without a contract since Aug. 31, but
administrators at the school said they would not negotiate during
what they consider an illegal strike, The News reported. Michigan
law makes it illegal for public employees to strike. Negotiations
were to resume at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 12, according to The News.

Bargaining stopped Sept. 5 after the faculty rejected a 5-year
contract that would have given them 3 percent raises each year,
The News reported.

REMEDIAL EDUCATION PREVALENT ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
LANSING, Mich. — Community colleges in Michigan spent $21 million
on remedial education in 2004-2005, according to Booth
Newspapers.

Although the Michigan Department of Education does not track
participation in remedial education classes at the state's 105
public and private colleges, it can be as high as three-quarters
in some instances, Booth reported.

At Baker College, for example, 75 percent of students must take a
remedial math class, including some that cover elementary school-level skills such as decimals and fractions, Booth reported.

About 1,400 freshmen at Michigan State University, out of a class
of 8,900, took either a remedial math or reading class last year,
according to Booth.

"Most community colleges and Baker College certainly, have seen
an increase in under prepared students over the past several
years," Cynthia VanGieson, dean of developmental education at
Baker College in Jackson, told Booth.

Sen. Wayne Kuipers, chairman of the Senate Education Committee,
said he hopes new high school graduation requirements will put an
end to remedial classes, but also plans to pursue legislation
that would prohibit it for recent graduates, according to Booth.

A U.S. Department of Education study of students who entered
college in 2000 found 28 percent of them needed at least one
remedial class, Booth reported.

KALAMAZOO ENROLLMENT UP
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Kalamazoo Public Schools, some of whose
graduates can qualify for free college tuition, had 853 more
students on the first day of classes last week compared to the
start of the 2005-2006 school year, according to The Kalamazoo
Gazette.

The count on the first day was 9,020, up from 8,167 a year ago.
Even when counting about 900 kindergartners who were expected to
start the following day, however, the district was still about
600 students short of its projection, The Gazette reported.

Some KPS elementary schools saw 10 percent more students over
last year, while Central High School was up almost 80 students.

Under the Kalamazoo Promise, students who live in and attend KPS
from kindergarten through graduation are eligible to have 100
percent of their tuition paid for at any public university in
Michigan. Students who enroll after kindergarten, but before 10th
grade, can receive 65 percent. The program is funded by
anonymous, private donors.

STUDIES: VOUCHER SCHOOLS "LESS SEGREGATED" THAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
INDIANAPOLIS — A new study shows independent schools
participating in voucher programs in Cleveland and Milwaukee are
less segregated than the public schools in those metropolitan
areas, according to studies released by the Milton and Rose D.
Friedman Foundation.

The voucher schools in Cleveland and Milwaukee were found to be
18 and 13 points, respectively, "less segregated" than local
public schools. The statistics were determined using a
"segregation index," which compares the racial composition of
schools to that of school-age children in the area.

"This study confirms the findings of six other studies in
Milwaukee, Cleveland and Washington, D.C., finding that private
schools in voucher programs are less segregated than public
schools," said Robert Enlow, executive director of the Friedman
Foundation. "The plain truth is that the scare tactics of school
choice opponents don't hold up, particularly in light of the
evidence in Cleveland and Milwaukee that strongly suggests school
choice may tear down the walls of segregation."

FRUITPORT TEACHERS FLOCK TO LESS EXPENSIVE MESSA
FRUITPORT, Mich. — More than 80 percent of teachers in Fruitport
Community Schools chose a less costly version of union-backed
health insurance after approving a one-year contract, according
to The Muskegon Chronicle.

Teachers who use Choices II, a PPO offered by the Michigan
Education Special Services Association, will pay nothing, while
teachers who continue receiving coverage under the more expensive
Super Care I will pay a $100 deductible every month, The
Chronicle reported. MESSA is a third-party administrator
affiliated with the Michigan Education Association union, and
acts as a middleman to repackage and resell health insurance
plans to school districts.

The Chronicle reported that the change will save the district
money. Pam Kihn, Fruitport's director of administrative services,
told Michigan Education Digest that amount would be $160,000 a
year.

Lynn Vanderberg, chief negotiator for the Fruitport teachers
union, said it boosts morale to start the school year with a
contract in place.

"It's nice to be able to work together, talk honestly, and reach
a compromise," Vanderberg told The Chronicle.

Superintendent Nick Ceglarek told The Chronicle that the contract
is "a fair agreement that rewards excellent teaching but allows
us to be fiscally responsible as well."

MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (http://www.educationreport.org),
a quarterly newspaper
with a circulation of nearly 150,000 published by the Mackinac
Center for Public Policy (http://www.mackinac.org),
a private,
nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.